Can't let college presidents 'vouch' for themselves

Star-Ledger File PhotoAn audit says former Brookdale Community College president Peter Burnham fudged his expense reports.

With the contract he had, you wonder why former Brookdale Community College president Peter Burnham felt the need to cheat on his expenses, billing the school for bar tabs, personal junkets, clothing and other purchases.

Burnham was the A-Rod of the state’s community colleges — a guy with a superstar contract and superstar status. After 20 years as president, he was king of the campus and the cleanup-hitting spokesman for higher education in the state.

No one questioned him.

Or his vouchers.

So, apparently, he fudged them.

Burnham was making enough money to pay for his own golf shirts: He earned $216,000 a year, received a $1,500 monthly housing allowance and $40,000 a year so his two sons could attend the colleges of their choice.

That adds up to $274,000.

Oh, yeah, and whenever Colts Neck raised taxes on his home, the college picked up the difference.

Wait, there’s more: Woven into the college’s $99 million budget were $639,000 to fund Burnham’s office, including $30,000 each for food, hospitality and miscellaneous. Thirty grand should cover a lot of miscellaneous. But, it seems, it didn’t cover enough.

He should’ve paid for his own martinis. But a guy earning that kind of dough, with unchallenged authority in his 22-building kingdom in Middletown, a guy who believes he has revolutionized two-year colleges, is bound to believe he’s entitled to have a drink on us — even if it helps make Brookdale the costliest community college in the state.

The 91-page audit paints a picture of a man long on arrogance and short on ethics. (The report goes back three years. Who knows what the college will find if investigators snoop deeper into his tenure.)

Others are responsible, too. The board of trustees awarded him that glutonous contract — the same members who either rubber-stamped his expenses or weren’t savvy enough to spot irregularities. Yes, they’re volunteers, but they’re trusted with millions dollars in public money and hard-earned tuition payments. They must do better. Brookdale has accounting courses. They should register for one.

Auditors didn’t spot problems either.

Meanwhile, Gloucester County College president Russell Davis has resigned amid an investigation into finances. That leads us to offer this advice to the state’s other colleges: